


Bruises and Blackmail

by TheDarkChocolateLord



Series: Keeptober 2020 [4]
Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Humor, Mentioned injury but it's not graphic, No beta we die like Kenric, Oralie is referenced but not actually there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27035278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkChocolateLord/pseuds/TheDarkChocolateLord
Summary: After Lumenaria, Gethen and Umber have a conversation.I wrote this for Keeptober 2020 for the prompt Neverseen.
Series: Keeptober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973125
Comments: 7
Kudos: 4





	Bruises and Blackmail

"Are you going to tell me what happened to your eye or not?"

Gethen slouched in his chair and glared at Umber—well, tried to; it was harder to glare when one of his eyes was puffy and bruised. "You're not an actual physician; you don't need to know."

"I'm _your_ physician, because Medicus is working on getting Vespera back up to full capability and I have more medical training than anyone else here. And unlike the slapdash job you did with random serums and balms on your smaller cuts, you need more targeted stuff for that giant bruise. And to know what stuff I should use, I need an explanation."

"You could just give me the Bruise Cruise and be done with it," Gethen muttered, still not wanting to explain.

Umber shook her head. "I can't. It's about varying levels of impact and injury which may need more complicated treatment."

"And because you're annoying and want to irritate me."

"Of course. You know, if you're not going to tell me, I could come up with some truly ridiculous theory….like that you ran into a door because you were too stupid to look where you were going. Or you tripped over a rock. Or that Forkle punched you as you stabbed him—no, too battle-y. Or maybe the weak Councillor who you somehow couldn't manage to kill had something to do with it…."

Gethen flinched, hating how close Umber was coming to the truth.

"Ha, you flinched—it _really_ has to do with _her_? Miss ringlets and rosy cheeks injured our top Telepath? I mean, you're our only Telepath, but that's not the point."

"Fine, I'll tell you if you keep it quiet," Gethen groaned. If Umber let this slip to anyone, his reputation would be ruined, but….well, his eye hurt. "Brant and I almost had her when she threw her stupid heels at us. One of them missed but the other hit my eye. She must've been channeling."

"Any aftereffects?"

"My eye hurt."

" _Besides_ that, idiot."

"Minor dizziness," Gethen admitted.

"Oh, this is _too_ good…." Umber snickered as she took out three jars and a vial from the cabinet beside her. "I actually needed that information; we're going to need the stuff for deeper bruising plus something to clear your head." She segued into application techniques, finishing with "That clear?"

Gethen nodded, already smearing on the first layer of medicine. "Thanks," he muttered as the pain receded. "And you promise to never talk about this to anyone, right?"

"Oh, I never agreed to keep it quiet—you just thought I would and went on talking. However, I do have excellent blackmail material now, so I'll keep it quiet in case I need something from you." 

"I'm going to kill you."

"Bold of you to assume you can kill a highly trained Shade, when you couldn't kill a weak, weaponless Empath with no combat experience—not to mentioned that you had a sword and she was unarmed. Maybe you should learn how to use heels as a weapon instead of focusing on swordplay…."

"I'm never going to live this down, am I?" Gethen muttered as he screwed the lid back on the jar.

Umber smirked. "Never."

  
  



End file.
